Elon Musk finds Trump's comeback on X 'next-level'

Former US President Donald Trump's comeback on Twitter (now known as X) has been praised by the company's owner, Elon Musk himself.

On Thursday, Trump took to Twitter and shared his mugshot with a link to his site. The tweet was posted a few hours after he surrendered in Fulton County, Ga., in connection with the Georgia election subversion case.

"ELECTION INTERFERENCE! NEVER SURRENDER!" read the caption posted with the mugshot on X. It is the first time that Trump has posted on Twitter after the suspension of his account following the January 6 riots at the Capitol.

He had to launch his own app, called Truth Social, to communicate with his supporters directly. His Twitter account was reinstated after Musk took over Twitter last year. However, Trump did not post anything from his account until Thursday.

Trump and 18 others have been accused of trying to sway Georgia's 2020 election results in an attempt to prevent his rival Joe Biden from becoming president. He was booked on more than a dozen charges, including racketeering, conspiracy, and soliciting a public official to violate their oath of office.

He surrendered at the Fulton County jail in Atlanta on Thursday and was briefly arrested before being released on bail. He agreed to post a $200,000 (£157,000) bond and agreed not to use social media to target his co-defendants and witnesses.

Soon after being released on bail, he posted the mugshot on Twitter. Trump has become the only former president in American history to have the police take his mugshot. Later in a statement, he said that he had done "nothing wrong."

"You should be able to challenge an election," he said. "What has taken place here is a travesty of justice."

Trump is a businessman who could not let go of the opportunity to make the most of the situation. After he posted the mugshot on Twitter, the website that sells official merchandise for his re-election campaign launched T-shirts with the slogan "Never Surrender" along with his picture.

Meanwhile, a Justice Department special counsel is also looking into how the former president handled secret information and attempted to thwart Joe Biden's 2020 presidential bid.

Furthermore, a grand jury is hearing testimony from a Justice Department special counsel who is looking into whether Trump had hundreds of top-secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort. Regardless of what transpires in New York, those investigations will continue.

This highlights the ongoing importance and global reach of the legal challenges the former president is currently facing. It is unclear when they will conclude or whether they will lead to criminal prosecutions.

He is facing a number of charges related to hush money payments paid to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016. If Trump is indicted in the case, it would be the first criminal case ever brought against a former US president.

Trump and his social media boycott:

Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, along with several others, banned Trump for allegedly inciting the US Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021. A mob of Trump supporters, riled up by his repeated false claims that the November 2020 election was stolen from him, assaulted the US Capitol.

Following the ban, Trump launched his own social media app called Truth Social. The app, which is very similar to the microblogging platform Twitter, is used by Trump to release statements and updates about his life.

During the launch of the app, Trump said that the new platform was an alternative to Silicon Valley internet companies that he claims are biased against him and other conservative voices.

Meta restored his Facebook and Instagram accounts in March of this year. His first posts on the platforms were titled "I'M BACK!." YouTube also reinstated his account the same month. The development came against the backdrop of Trump announcing his presidential campaign.